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Flag flap Upside down banner taken down BY ALEC JOHNSON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

PLYMOUTH — Since November, it happened most mornings — someone flipped the American flag flying in a median in East Plymouth Road. The Stars and Stripes were upside down.

And for weeks, every morning, someone would flip it back around.

The town joined the mystery about two weeks ago, after a passer-by called Town Hall to complain. Mayor Vincent Festa Jr. sent town employees to right the flag. On the pole, they found a note telling them to leave the flag alone and "stay off our property," Festa said.

The property — a triangular island on the country road in this six-house neighborhood, about three miles from downtown Terryville near the Bristol line and a reservoir called Marsh Pond — is owned by the town, assessors records show.

Festa said the scribbled note said something about going to China and eating rice and grass and blamed Democrats for the nation's woes. Festa declined to elaborate. Police are investigating, he said.

Hanging an American flag upside down is meant to be done only as a "signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property," according to the United States Flag Code.

Wednesday morning the flag flapped, union down, in a frigid light wind. Its rope had been duct taped to the pole. On the white flagpole, in black marker, was an abbreviation for a derogatory suggestion to get lost, directed at "Marxist Commie."

"It's depressing," Festa said. "I am assuming it is kids at play and if we find out differently, that it is an adult or adults, I will really be upset."

Wednesday afternoon, after a reporter inquired about the ongoing flag flipping, Festa had the flag and its rope removed from the white pole. The message remains.

"I'd rather take it down than have it desecrated," Festa said, about why the flag was removed.

Neighborhood residents declined to speculate on the identity of the flag flipper, but the timing around the November election suggests a statement in defiance of the government.

That would not be a first in this cluster of homes and a historic church built between 1792 and 1794 by Tories who remained loyal to the King of England after the American Revolution. It's a wooded, separate part of town, where traffic is limited to residents and drivers who know the back roads and want to avoid Route 72 in Harwinton.

Keith G. Golnik, who used to maintain nearby St Matthew's Cemetery and the median, said he noticed the flag upside down recently. He stopped and turned it around, he said. Golnik joked about the neighborhood's historic loyalist ties.

"I think somebody is just being an idiot," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see a Union Jack flying there."

The flipping isn't the only violation of the flag code — it flies all night, but without the required lights shining on it.

It's unclear if the flag will return, but Festa said he was not interested in having town workers right it daily. "It is a poor use of manpower and energy."

" Mayor Festa and the rest of the country doesn't get it.The comments on the pole reflect that America is going to the Communists. ie: Obama, Biden, Bloomberg, Clinton, Cuomo, etc. etc.They are planning a conspiracy to take away our guns !!The up-side-down flag obviously tells us that this country IS IN TROUBLE !!!Read between the lines, people !! "

" Of course Roy got it correct . The state and federal govts. are systematically attempting to control the innocent , honest Americans that would inhibit their overthrow of America . The idea of "fixing" the "problem" when even the State Police have come out and said directly that it will be months before they will be able to have any idea of just what the problem is , is a prime example of the liberal democrats shooting the horse that's pulling the carriage . When the president murdered those innocent American citizens in Waco why wasn't there a movement to remove control of the military from the president? "

" The racists and politically tea-tarded who spew hatred just because they are sore losers don't deserve an American flag to fly. If you look past the vicinity of your underground trailer-park bunker, the constition, democracy and government of, by, and for the people is alive and well. "

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